


Don't Let Go

by Xygdrasil



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Gen, Protective Siblings, The Great Fodlan Bakeoff, Twin AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24647875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xygdrasil/pseuds/Xygdrasil
Summary: Byleth loosened her hold on his hand to go inside, but Beleth refused to let go, instead tightening his hold on her as he shook his head."I'll go with you... but don't let go of my hand, okay?""I promise I won't let go."
Kudos: 6





	Don't Let Go

**Author's Note:**

> My fic for The Great Fodlan Bakeoff!  
> Ahh, I wish I spent more time on this, but I hope you enjoy regardless!

For as long as they could remember, Byleth and Beleth were inseparable. As children, they found out that they could prove this point by constantly holding hands. Byleth would lead every charge for their make believe explorations into any interesting landmark near the mercenary camp, while Beleth timidly followed along, unwilling to unlink their hands despite his fear. 

"Look at that, Bel! Come on!" Byleth lightly tugged on his hand, urging him to climb onto the boulder she had already got ahead on.

"Hah... how did you climb up with one hand?" he wheezed before a powerful tug on his hand sent him tumbling onto the top of the boulder by her feet. As he gathered his bearings and got to his feet, he opened his mouth to complain, before seeing her other hand pointing to something in the distance. Turning his head, he spotted the yawning mouth that led to complete darkness: the entrance to a cave.

"Let's go inside!" she excitedly began to drag him towards the entrance as he cowered, intimidated by the darkness. He stopped her as they got closer to the cave, trembling as he looked away. Realizing how terrified her brother was, she reached over to pat his head. "I'll go check it out real quick, Bel. Then I'll be back, okay?" Byleth loosened her hold on his hand to go inside, but Beleth refused to let go, instead tightening his hold on her as he shook his head. 

"I'll go with you... but don't let go of my hand, okay?"

"I promise I won't let go."

Even as they grew older, this did not change, much to Jeralt and the mercenaries' amusement. After each training session, without fail, the overprotective sister ran to her brother's side, checking for injuries before she even considered her own. This same act continued even when they became full-fledged mercenaries. Despite the blood she spilled and the wounds that stung across her body, her first instinct was to look for Beleth and assess his injuries first. 

"By, I'm fine!" Beleth huffed, pushing away her hand as she searched him. "But you're covered in blood..."

"Relax, Bel, this isn't even mi-" she began, before a stinging pain coursed through her body, causing her to abruptly hunch over in pain. 

"You reckless idiot..." he muttered as a green light began to illuminate his hand, casting heal onto her wounds. "You always do this."

"And you always heal me." though she did not smile, he could see the mirthful glint in her eye.

"Then maybe I won't next time."

"You said that last time!"

"I really mean it this time!"

As they returned to camp, their arguing continued, but even this was the norm for the mercenary company.

"Kids..." Jeralt began, unable to hide the amusement in his tone as they returned to camp. "You were just fighting a second ago, weren't you?" 

"Hm?" the twins looked over at their father, tilting their head to the side in unison. He pointed to their hands, already holding onto each other. At some point, even as they argued, they had naturally sought the other and held hands.

Over time, they began to seek their own interests and styles, which they would later specialize in and teach when they were taken on as professors in Garreg Mach. Under the mercenaries' training sessions, Byleth excelled in swordsmanship while Beleth excelled in lancing. They were both taught basics in authority and healing. As professors, Byleth would teach all manner of melee combat and weaponry, specializing in swordsmanship, authority, and overpowering tactics. Beleth, on the other hand, taught ranged combat and healing, specializing in magic, riding and flying animals, and more evasive tactics. Together, they taught the Black Eagle house, the condition for teaching being that they remained together even as professors. 

"So it's true," Dorothea called out in class one day as they were heading to the training grounds for combat practice. "that you two are really close." she pointed to their hands. Many others commented on their sibling relationship. Some found it endearing, while others tried to embarrass them. For the Eisner twins who had limited knowledge and experience in the way of socializing and expressing emotions, things such as embarrassment never quite made it to the list, so they remained undeterred in how they treated each other.

However, everything changed on that fateful day when they went to go investigate the chapel. Just as the dagger tore through Jeralt, ending his life, something had snapped within Byleth. Despite the content look on their father's face, something took hold of Byleth, changing her. As the twins rested their heads against Sothis' shoulder, taking her offer to allow them to weep, that was the last he saw of the sister he knew. 

The loss of their father hit Beleth just as hard, but he could understand what else Byleth had lost. She had lost the very being she aimed to surpass and take over. She was given the mercenary company without a fight, but this was not how she wanted it. She would succeed his legacy, but she had not wished for it to happen like this. For Beleth, he was content with following where she went, to continue supporting her no matter what. While she looked ahead of them, at the back of Jeralt, he looked at her and stood by her side. 

When he had tried to hold her hand after they visited the Captain's office following his death, she did not hold on. It seemed as though her hands were always full since then, figuratively and literally. She clutched the diary close to her, the other gripping tightly onto the dagger Beleth had bought for her as a present. She no longer held his hand.

As word spread about those responsible for Jeralt's death, Byleth grew more and more restless. She set out on her own most evenings after instructions, disappearing outside the monastery walls. On one such night, he stood before her.

"By, let me come with you. I want to avenge the old man too." he reached out to put his hands on her shoulders, hitting their foreheads together. "Please."

"No." the answer was curt and final. 

"Why not? He's my father too! I lost him too!" 

"You can't, Bel. Leave this to me."

Afraid of losing his sister as well, Beleth waited until the crack of dawn before he saw any sign of his sister trudging back to her quarters. Her slumped shoulders and distant gaze told him the results without having to ask. Why did she insist on going alone? Why didn't she let him come with her? They always faced everything together, so why is it now that she didn't want him to? However, despite her nightly explorations outside the monastery walls, she found nothing. The entire month was spent in vain. The strain of that reality was clear as Byleth began to make more mistakes in instructions and in her daily actions. She spoke even less than usual, simply opting to nod or shake her head. She ate less, which resulted in her speaking to the students less. She stopped fishing, her well-worn fishing rod growing dust beside his. Oftentimes when she was not instructing or doing her solo explorations outside, she was drinking with the knights, yet alone. Beleth would often drink beside her, but only to make sure she was okay and drag her drunken form back to her room. He was not deaf to the mumblings and sobs that wracked her in this vulnerable state, so he made a silent vow as he tucked her into bed for the night and quietly closed the door behind him.

-

The day they had been waiting for had finally come. The twins, blade and lance raised to strike, glowered over Kronya, who knelt before them in defeat. She begged and begged as Solon appeared, taking away their chance for avenging Jeralt directly. 

"Solon will have to do." Byleth growled as the twins, both having fused with Sothis, tore out of the void. This time, no one got in their way. As blade tore through flesh, dark flames engulfed his body, allowing him to feel every pain imaginable as he lived through the last moments of his life. Beleth winced as dark scars encroached upon his body, hidden beneath his clothes. The price he had to pay for such devastating, powerful magic meant to take another's life. As they returned, he could not help but glance at the purple scars and marks that crept up his arms. He began to wear gloves since.

"With hands like these, perhaps it's for the better that she no longer holds it."

-

After the incident in the forest, Byleth had tried to reach out to Beleth again, realizing how the thirst for revenge consumed her. While they had continued their bond over shared loss, she had opened a gap by wanting to protect him. Afraid of losing him to the same people who took their father away from them, she had resorted to avenging Jeralt alone. Only after they had avenged him together did she realize her mistake. Beleth winced and jerked his hand away each time she reached out to him, much to her dismay. Months have passed, and while they remained close, she could not reach him anymore. It was an indescribable loneliness, losing the warmth of someone who had been by her side all her life. It drove her to continue to remedy the gap between them.

"Bel, wait-"

"They're waiting for us to head to the Holy Tomb. Let's go, By."

"Bel..."

Though to no avail. Beleth grew more and more disgusted at the changes his body went through. He did not wish to taint his sister with the corruption that seemed to spread across his body from the use of dark magic. He could not afford to have her see the state he was in, in fear that he would lose her forever. He wanted to protect what little they had left, for as long as he could.

-

As they sided with Edelgard and readied themselves for the siege against Garreg Mach, the twins awaited for the call to arms as they sat side by side, drinking from flasks. Beleth remained quiet as Byleth spoke out about her concern for the students who sided with them and those who didn't. Noticing his lack of response, she nudged his shoulder, nearly knocking his drink out of his hand.

"By..."

"Relax, Bel. I know we have a whole monastery and a dragon archbishop to fight against, but," she raised her flask towards him, a small smile coming across her face for the first time in awhile. "we got each other. They can't take us down as long as we're fighting together." Beleth blinked at her, before a small smile of his own came to his face.

"Hah. You're right. The Eisner twins are unstoppable, after all."

Or so they had hoped. The battle proved far more difficult than they were prepared for. Side by side, they accounted for each others' safety both in and out of melee range. Covering each others' blind spots, they proved to be a formidable duo to fight against as they came closer and closer to the archbishop. They tore down her strongest units and their former allies. Seteth, Flayn, Catherine, Cyril... They broke through until Rhea stepped forward. They were not prepared for the devastating power of her magic as her anger heightened. Not even the Eisner twins could handle the full brunt of it at point blank range. Not Beleth, who used his body to shield his sister when she had tried to charge Rhea head on with her blade. 

"BEL!" A horrible, blood-curdling scream ripped out of Byleth's throat as she quickly took hold of her brother's body, retreating to a safe distance away from Rhea.

"Sorry, By. Looks like I'm meeting the old man first." the chuckle was bitter, and the slight movement only made him wince in pain. He let out a pained exhale as Byleth slowly brought them both to the floor as imperial soldiers and frantic Black Eagle Strike Force members covered them. "Will you hold my hand... just like old times?" Bel sputtered up more blood, warning him of the time he had left to say his farewells. He reached out a weak hand towards her in hopes of his final request being met, unveiling the dark marks that marred him from overextending his body's use on dark magic. Horrified by the aftereffects of how he had overextended his own body, Byleth was speechless, but it did not deter her from granting his final request.

"Bel...!" Byleth sobbed, grasping his hand into hers carefully, cradling his head with the other. "Bel, please... Don't go, I can't lose you too!" As tears spilled onto his face, he could not help but give her a weak smile.

"I should probably tell you that you shouldn't cry..." he began, his other hand reaching over to gently ruffle her hair. "But now I see why Dad had such a peaceful expression on his face that day."

As ground gave way and a mixture of roars and screams of 'Professor!' echoed around them, Beleth smiled one last time as his hand fell limp in hers. 

**Author's Note:**

> PS: Don't worry. This is the CF route, so Byleth will join her brother and father naturally after her time comes.
> 
> Come say hi! I don't bite (much):  
> @strayxyg or @xygdrasil (personal/random shenanigans)


End file.
